Current events in the words of the students of Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur

To study means to be educated?

The following article is based on my own interpretation of the said events. Any material borrowed from published and unpublished sources has been appropriately referenced. I will bear the sole responsibility for anything that is found to have been copied or misappropriated or misrepresented in the following post.

The difference between studying and being educated is significant. Whatever we learn from our school, educates us the goods and bads of life, and make us a competent and educated person. The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) row has given us an opportunity to ponder upon this difference.

Firstly, we need to ask ourselves a question – can an education institute allow such an activity or meeting? While this debate has taken a typical BJP versus others tone here where BJP being targeted as the pro-Hindu and the “others” as the free thinking seculars of our country. There was no academic discussion that was underway in JNU, instead it was a meeting where anti-India slogans were raised. Such a meeting to be organized on the campus of a government-funded university is certainly far from lawful. Anyone who believes such a meeting should have been allowed must be asked if public gatherings honoring LTTE’s Prabhakaran, India’s most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim or Hafiz Saeed of JeM fame should be given permission next.

Secondly, is it correct to disrespect the judgment of Supreme Court by organizing protest activities? Judiciary has the utmost respect in India and to disregard it is truly not ethical. You can challenge a judgment in the court through official procedures, but by spreading pamphlets calling for the hangings of Afzal Guru as non-judicial is surely not acceptable.

So, do we have the right to call ourselves educated when our activities are creating a nationwide disharmony? By our own sheer carelessness, we are only contributing to slowing our progress. Now when the budget session begins, the opposition will have their plates full with so many topics to stall important discussions like GST implementation. We need to start thinking collectively towards the growth of India and realize the importance of our roles to be played in it. Till then, the question over studying and being educated will continue to loom.